Rajkumar Santoshi's film 'Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh', which is scheduled for a Republic Day release, has met stiff Opposition, with the Congress in Bhopal protesting the movie's release. Leaders of the Congress's student wing, the NSUI, on Monday burnt effigies of the film's director Rajkumar Santoshi in front of the Congress office in Bhopal, claiming that the film glorified the killer of Mahatma Gandhi, Nathuram Godse.
The BJP, however, argued that the film is an expression of freedom of speech and that Nathuram Godse is not being glorified in the film. It depicts the clash of ideas between him and Mahatma Gandhi, BJP stated.
Minister of Higher Education in the Madhya Pradesh Government Mohan Yadav recently had said that it is not right to oppose any film without watching it, raising questions about the Congress' opposition to the film. He also questioned why the Congress is protesting the film in the name of Savarkar and Godse.
The co-producer of "Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh" said that there should be no controversy around the film as it portrays the historical duel between Gandhi and Godse. Some Hindu organisations have also come out in support of the film, raising questions about the Congress' opposition to it and arguing that it is an expression of ideological freedom.
'Gandhi Godse Ek Yudhh' is a fictional recreation of history, where it imagines Gandhi surviving after Nathuram Godse's attack and the subsequent battle of ideologies between the two. It shows the story of the riots during India-Pakistan partition of British India in 1947. The trailer imagines what India would have been like had Gandhi survived Godse's attack. The film is a tussle between two varying ideologies of violence and Satyagraha.